Europe's First Networks (3100-2100 BC) - Stone Landscapes to Copper Worlds

Описание: Keywords: European prehistory, 3rd millennium BC, Chalcolithic, Copper Age, Early Bronze Age, megaliths, henges, passage tombs, kurgan, metallurgy, trade networks, archaeology documentary, archaeological record, radiocarbon dating, material culture.

Between roughly 3100 and 2100 BC, Europe becomes visibly interconnected. Monument landscapes persist in the Atlantic zone, while long-distance exchange, shared material “horizons,” and new copper-age hubs link regions across sea lanes, rivers, and steppe routes. This episode follows dated archaeological evidence and geographically anchored sites to trace how networks expand—and where control of space and goods begins to leave clearer material traces.

Timeframe covered: ~3100–2100 BC
Method: map-driven, site-anchored, evidence-first (radiocarbon ranges, excavated contexts, material culture)

In this episode: Copper Age Europe • Early Bronze Age beginnings • Bell Beaker phenomenon • Corded Ware horizon • steppe kurgans • Yamnaya horizon • Aegean and Cycladic networks • obsidian and long-distance trade • Danube corridor metallurgy • Iberian Copper Age enclosures • Scandinavian Battle Axe tradition • Troy and the Anatolian corridor • prepalatial Crete.

Image and figure credits (full attribution):
All images are via Wikimedia Commons unless specifically stated differently
01:07: Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0
01:13: Nachosan, CC BY-SA 3.0
01:19: Chmee2, CC BY-SA 3.0
01:26: Archaeology Scotland, CC BY-SA 4.0
01:33: Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0
01:44: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0
02:10: Ethan Doyle White, CC BY-SA 4.0
02:16: TobyEditor, CC BY 4.0
03:09: Einsamer Schütze, CC BY-SA 3.0
03:45: ANAGSPC, CC BY-SA 4.0
03:55: Dguendel, CC BY 3.0
04:05: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, CC BY 3.0
04:15: Ario1234, CC BY-SA 4.0
04:45: Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr, CC BY-SA 2.0 FR
05:08: Laténium, CC BY-SA 3.0
06:03: Aleksandar Durman, CC BY-SA 4.0
06:03: Zeljko, CC BY-SA 4.0
06:13: CryolophosaurusEllioti, CC BY 4.0
06:46: Alexey G NikitinSvitlana Ivanova, CC BY 4.0
06:55: Alexey G NikitinSvitlana Ivanova, CC BY 4.0
07:04: Penske S, Rohrlach AB, Childebayeva A, Gnecchi-Ruscone G, Schmid C, Spyrou MA, Neumann GU, Atanassova N, Beutler K, Boyadzhiev K, Boyadzhiev Y, Bruyako I, Chohadzhiev A, Govedarica B, Karaucak M, Krauss R, Leppek M, Manzura I, Privat K, Ross S, Slavchev V, Sobotkova A, Toderaş M, Valchev T, Ringbauer H, Stockhammer PW, Hansen S, Krause J, Haak W. Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe. Nature. 2023 Aug;620(7973):358-365. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06334-8. Epub 2023 Jul 19. PMID: 37468624; PMCID: PMC10412445., CC BY 4.0
07:22: Iwona Dembicz, Ivan I. Moysiyenko, Anastasia Shaposhnikova, Denys Vynokurov, Łukasz Kozub, Barbara Sudnik-Wœjcikowska, CC BY 4.0
07:36: Photo by S. Ivanov, CC BY 4.0
07:49: Яцюк Денис Анатольевич, CC BY-SA 4.0
07:59: Яцюк Денис Анатольевич, CC BY-SA 4.0
08:37: The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-SA 2.0
08:48: Terker, CC BY 3.0
09:00: Johannes sankari, CC BY-SA 4.0
09:51: Jerónimo Roure Pérez, CC BY-SA 4.0
09:51: Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España, CC BY 2.0
10:04: Drawings by Miriam Luciañez Triviño, CC BY 4.0
10:20: “Figure 4” — José Márquez, António Carlos Valera, Helmut Becker, et al., from El Complexo Arqueológico dos Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal). Prospecciones Geofísicas – Campañas 2008–09 (ResearchGate figure page), CC BY 4.0. Modified (fit/blur + caption/credit overlay).
10:20: “Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal). Planta de los recintos de fosos… (magnetometría 2009)” — José Márquez, António Carlos Valera, Helmut Becker, et al., from El Complexo Arqueológico dos Perdigões… Prospecciones Geofísicas – Campañas 2008–09 (ResearchGate figure page), CC BY 4.0. Modified (fit/blur + caption/credit overlay).
10:42: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL, CC BY-SA 2.0
11:20: GaiusCrastinus, CC BY-SA 4.0
11:32: Cristiano Cani, CC BY-SA 3.0
12:12: Georgia Cantoni / Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia, CC BY-SA 4.0
12:12: Niccolò Caranti, CC BY-SA 4.0
12:12: Museo Chierici di Paletnologia, CC BY-SA 4.0
12:34: Xoil, CC BY-SA 4.0
12:34: Dolfini, A., Angelini, I., & Artioli, G. (2020). Copper to Tuscany – Coals to Newcastle? The dynamics of metalwork exchange in early Italy — Fig. 4 (“Selection of copper-alloy axes, daggers and halberds…”). PLOS ONE, 15(1): e0227259. CC BY 4.0. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227259
(Modified: resized/cropped and used in a composite with on-image attribution.)
14:42: Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0
14:50: Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0
14:50: Carl Ha, CC BY-SA 4.0
15:11: Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0
15:35: Lourakis at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
15:35: Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0
15:58: Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0
16:39: Heinz Schmitz, CC BY-SA 2.5
16:50: Mark Landon, CC BY-SA 4.0
17:42: Winstonza, CC BY-SA 3.0
17:49: Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0
18:12: Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0
18:21: C messier, CC BY-SA 4.0